Submarine mine and propeller-entanglement.



A. N. McGRAY.

SUBMARINE MINE AND PROPELLER ENTANGLEMENT.

APPLICATION HLED JAN. 30, I915- Pmnmd May 15,1917.

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WITNESSES I I A m NM i i r 81 i A. N. McGRAY.

SUBMARINE MINE AND PROPELLER ENTANGLEMENT. APPLICATION FILEDIAN-30.1915.

1,226,348. I Patented May 15, 1917.

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WI T IVESSES MIL EN T05 Arihur N. McGray MAM? By A TTORIVEYS ARTHUR H.MOGRAY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SUBMAIRIINE MINE AND PROPELLER-ENTANG-LEMENT.

Specification of Letters Bat ent.

Patented May 15, 191?.

Application filed January 30, 1915. Serial No. 5,213.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR N. MoGRAY, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in thecounty and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved SubmarineMine and Propeller-Entanglement, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to submarine defenses against naval crafts, bothof the floating and submarine types, and the general objects of theinvention are to provide a defense or a system of protection for coasts,harbors and the like, the defense embodying submerged elements floatinga suitable depth below the surface of the water and serving asentanglements for the propellers of war crafts, whereby the latter willbe rendered helpless against escape and exposed to the attacks of theenemy.

In carrying out .the invention the system of propeller entanglementscomprises a plurality of lines or' cables separately laid over an areato be protected and disposed in parallel lines or intersecting lines,and each including a plurality of vertical Wires spaced apart and havingsuitable floats whereby the wires will lie close enough to the surfaceof the water as to be readily entangled with propellers of ships, thewires and cables being sufliciently light that they will be pulled up bypropellers and more effectively entangled therewith, and' if desiredthese propeller entanglement elements and wires may include mineswherebyentangled ships may be destroyed by the entangling system itself. With asystem of this character the various lines can bereadily laid by a craftsimilar to a cable layer, it being merely necessary to attach at spacedpoints on a line, as the latter is being paid out, the buoyant propellerentangling wires or elements, and also to attach weights or anchors fromtime to time on the line as it is paid out. It will thus be seen that anexpanseof seacan be easily and quickly laid with the system of propellerentan lement.

A further ob]ect of the invention is the provision in connectionwith thesea entan-. glement referred to, of a vertical net anchored at thebottom and buoyant at the top and having arrange thereon a plurality ofexplosive mines and dummy mines suitably distributed, and. asthis net islocated along the border of the area protected by the entanglement asubmarine.

which has successfully worked its way through the entanglement will beendangered by the net, and if the net is observed before collisiontherewith the submarinewill attempt to escape by moving sternward, whichwill expose the submarine to danger by the propeller becoming caught inthe entanglements, and thereby thrown out of commission.

With such objects in view, and others Figure 1 is a sectional view of abody of water showing a line of entanglements being-laid for creating asubmarine defense;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a'body of water showing an entanglement layerin the oper ation of laying entanglement lines;

Fig. 3' is a view showing a submarine mine'net which borders the fieldof entanglement;

Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views of the floating propeller entanglements;and

Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the means for attaching theentanglements with the anchoring cable or line.

. Referring to the drawings, A designates a wire cable or other line towhich are attached at suitable intervals floating propellerentanglements B which terminate at their upper ends a few feet below thesurface of the water, so that a floatin battle-' ship or other navalcraft will be ikely to encounter the floating entanglements and have itspropellers caught thereon, whereby the propellers will be renderedinoperative. The anchor line A is adapted to be laid a light draft boatequipped like an ordinary cable layer, and the entanglements B areadapted to be attached one after another as the anchor line A is paidout from the craft C. The end of the line A that is first thrownoverboard will have a fluked anchor 1 so as to become firmly attached tothe sea bottom, and at intervalsweighting anchors 2 are attached to theline A, these anchors being applied one after another as the line isbelngrpaid'out. The lines may be of any desired length, according to theextent of the seabottom to be covered. As shown in Fig. 2, the cables Amay be laid parallel to each other, as indicated, and if desired theremay be intersecting lines, whereby the entanglements will be plantedve'ry densely, rendering it impossible for v ments will be suificientlyclose to the sur-- face as to become readily entangled .with propellers.In Fig. 1 a variety of forms of entanglements are shown. The upper endsmay be of triangular formation, as shown at b, and each includesafloatB, and if de sired a mine 4 may be embodied in the entanglement atany suitable point, the float 7 being of suflicient buoyancy to keep theen'- tanglement afloat. The entanglements b have a rectangular formationat the top and include angularly disposed floats 5, and theseentanglements may also include a floating mine 6. The entanglements maybe of a multiform character, as shown at 6 wherein the entanglement isshown as having the lower section somewhat like the form b,

and attached to this lower section are a plurality of upper sections 7and 8. This arrangement has an advantage that only one -main connectingwire 9 is employed to connect a plurality of'float-sustained entan-glements with the anchoring cable A. It

will be understood that when a floating or submarine craft encountersthe field of propeller entanglement, the propellers will become caughton an entanglement and wind .the latter up .on the propeller and therebydisable the craft and render the same liable to destruction by theexplosion of a mine that is incorporated in the entanglement. A mine netD may with advantage be used in connection with the system of propellerentanglements, and this net is adapted to be placed along the outerborder of the entanglement system, and serves to prevent .the passage.of submarines through entanglements. This net D is made of wire or ropeand has its bottom edge provided with anchors 10, and the upper edge isprovided with floats 11, and distributed over the net are explosivemines 12 and dummy mines 13. If a submarine succeeds in passing throughthe field of entanglements by keeping at a level below the branchedupper buoyant ends of the latter,

and encounters the'net D, there will be danger of destruction byexplosion of the mines on the latter, and if the net is seen before itis reached there is likelihood of the propeller of the submarine boatbecoming caught with the entanglements in maneuvering away from the net.The net D may have a microphone or equivalent device 1&

which is connected by a wire 15 with a watch ship E, sothat when a boatencounfloating entanglements be capable of quick attachment to anddetachment from the anchoring cable, so that the laying and taking up ofthe entanglements can be effected with despatch, and therefore the cableA may have .snap hooks or equivalent devices 16,

and the lower ends of the entanglements, as

shown in Figs. 4 and 5, will be provided with eyes 17 to engage With thehooks. The anchors of the cable A may also be connected with similarsnap hooks 16.

' From the foregoing description taken in connection with. theaccompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and method ofoperation will be readily understood by those skilled in the art towhich the invention appertains, and while I have described the principleofoperation, together with thesystem which I now consider to be the bestembodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the system shownis merely illustrative and that such changes may be made when desired asare within the scope of the appended claims.

Although the invention has been referred to as a defense, it is to beunderstood. that this term is to include a blockade.

- Having thus described my invention, I

ters Patent:

'1. A submarine defense comprising a plurality of looped propellerentanglements, an anchoring cable, and a connection extending from thebottom of each loopto the cable,

vclaim as new and desire to secure by Leteach loop having float meansfor cooperating with the cable to maintain the loops more or lessupright, and the float means also serving to hold the loops open forentanglement with propellers, said loops being independent of each otherand free to move laterally in all directions from the anchoring cable. I

2. A submarine defense comprising a plurality of looped propellerentanglements, an. anchoring cable, a connection extending from thebottom of each loop to the cable,

each loop having float means for cooperating 130 with the cable tomaintain the loops more In testimony whereof I have signed my or lessupright, and the float means also a name to this specification in thepresence of serving to hold the loops open for entangletwo subscribingwitnesses.

ment with propellers, and mines attached ARTHUR N. MGGRAY. to the loops,said loopsfbeing independent Witnesses:

of each other and free to move laterally in C. BRADWAY',

all directions from the anchoring cable. PHILIP D. Romania.

